Wedding Bells

As you know, I have been a busy bee these last two months. The best part about my busy-ness is that I got to be a part of two of my bestest-friends' weddings: my sister & my sister-like childhood friend.
As you know, I am still waiting on cashing in on the photographer's pics of the awesome dessert spread I did (with a ton of help from my mom) for my sister's wedding, because silly me forgot to snap some shots...duh! Fortunately, I did manage to get a couple of shots of the cake I did for my friend's wedding but silly me again did not get a pic of the final set-up or of the 150 individual strawberry shortcakes that again my mom and I put together...duh!
So I will describe in words while I hope the photographer gives me some smashing shots of the dessert table in the very near future!
"C" aka sister-like childhood friend, LOVES her some strawberry shortcake, so naturally she wanted strawberry shortcake at her wedding. In addition, C & J (aka bride & groom) were getting hitched at a berry farm in our home town, so again...the strawberry thing fit right in. Instead of doing just any ole strawberry shortcake, as we all know historically speaking strawberry shortcake is not the most decorative of desserts. I had the idea of doing each one individually in a mason jar. Fortunately C & J went for it and they turned out perfectly! As a side note, can I just mention that C & J have had a crush on each other since 5th grade...but didn't really date until their 20s and now they've gone and tied the knot! So cute dontcha think? Okay, back to cakes...so I baked 7 full sheet pans of rich buttery cake. Then with a lot of help from the bride, cut out 150 cake circles using a 3.5" circle cookie cutter. We then plopped them into the bottom of the pre-ribboned jars (which BTW the mother of the bride likely spent DAYS tying bows on each of the 150 jars) and prep'd them for filling. We had a strawberry slicing party thinking we had more than enough strawberries and later my mom had a strawberry slicing party of her own when her & I realized we were short, thank the Lord for my mama! On the day of the wedding my mom and I had one heck of an assembly line. My mom filled every jar with strawberries and I made 1.5 gallons of fresh vanilla bean whipped cream and piped each one with just enough...have you ever seen what 1.5 gallons of heavy whipping cream looks like!?! Then we sealed them shut and placed a little C&J sticker on top (even my wonderful hubs got in on this action). We then brought them to the farm and waited for the perfect time to put them out to make sure they didn't get too hot. Fortunately a thunder storm broke and brought the newlyweds best of luck in their marriage and brought the 95 degree heat down to mid 70s so that we could set-up the most perfect dessert table with a precious little wedding cake and 150 strawberry shortcakes on the most enormous cupcake stand I have ever laid eyes on!

unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of the strawberry shortcakes...

they are missing strawberries, whipped cream and lids!

As for the actual wedding cake, C & J wanted something small and just enough to slice for the cake eating portion of the reception. So I made a two tier vanilla bean cake with strawberry buttercream filling & Swiss meringue buttercream frosting (my personal fave in the frosting department) with some fondant strawberries on top. Since the reception was at this cool, rustic berry farm, I wanted the cake to take on a similar theme. So I did the green scroll work on the bottom tier to match the invitation and used the strawberries and gnarly sticks as a cake topper. I really loved how the cake turned out! Unfortunately or fortunately? the cake was just enough for everyone to want a piece and the entire thing got eaten! However, this is the best part about having your bff as your baker because she will gladly remake the cake top for your 1-year anniversary and then you are eating delicious fresh cake not frozen year old cake!
So that is about it you all! It was a great celebration and I hope you enjoy a couple of pics!

 

fondant strawberry...I made a bunch of these little guys

 the cake detail that matched their invitation (below)

 

the beautiful bride!

Happy baking, happier eating!